An anti-war, anti-neo-conservative blog to counter the lies of those who wish to condemn us to perpetual conflict. All this, plus horse-racing, football, books, films, television, and plenty of other topics too....
My new book 'Stranger than Fiction', a biography of Edgar Wallace, is available here:
http://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/index.php/biography-books/stranger-than-fiction-25294.html and here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stranger-than-Fiction-Wallace-Created/dp/0752498827

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Friday, February 17, 2006

What they still fear the most

Here's a terrific piece by Seumas Milne on what the Empire really fears the most- and it's not Islamic terror.The problem with European communism was not that it was unsuccessful, but that it was too successful. Undermining communist/leftist regimes has been the number one priority in Washington since the late 1940s- it's why the mujahadin was funded in the 1980s- and why the US sided with radical Islamists in the Balkans in the 1990s. It's also why sanctions are imposed on both Cuba and Belarus. Belarus is a particular irritant for the US- it's the only former Soviet Republic which has actually risen in the UN Human Development Index since 1991. It's done so by following a completely different path to the one prescribed by the US/The IMF and the World Bank. The success of Belarus is living proof that there is an alternative to the current neo-liberal orthodoxy. Which is why, for The Empire and its emissaries, 'regime change' in Minsk is now such an urgent priority.http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,1710891,00.html

Try telling the inmates at Guantanoma Bay about the West's 'civil liberties' and its non-imprisonment of 'dissidents'. Or Slobodan Milosevic. Or Tariq Aziz- held for nearly three years now without charge. As for political parties- we're certainly spoilt for choice in Britain-with a pro-war, pro-globalisation government and a pro-war globalisation opposition.Don't be under misapprehension- if voting did look as if it was going to change anything- they'd abolish it.

As for Chris' point I think Seumas Milne outlines quite clearly what the successes were. The education system was one of the best- if not the best- in the world, ditto public transport. Health care was excellent too. But, as Saint Exupery once said- that which is most important is invisible to the human eye. The greatest achievement of communism was the sense of solidarity it engendered-and this I believe, above all else, is why so many people in Eastern Europe mourn its passing.My wife was brought up under communism and compares life in Hungary now, with that of twenty, thirty years ago. What is missing, she says, is the spirit of togetherness.Global capitalism may do many things- but building solidarity between human beings is not one of them.

Yeah, I remember East Germany. The consumer goods looked like what you'd get nowadays in cheap toy shops. All those singalongs - Der Partei is Immer Recht and Vorwarts von Socialismus mit Erich Honecker.

When it wasn't boring it was genocidal - Ukrainian famine, Doctors' Plot, deportation of the Chechens, stand idly by during the Warsaw Uprising.

So what do you propose the UK do Neil?Bann all parties except RESPECT,close down the press, as it was not free anyway? Lock ALL dissidents up just not some,preferably without trial.Is that your idea of the perfect state?

You are faulting a whole system because of Guantanomo Bay and the other cases.Yet you are allowed to publish what you like in the UK or elsewhere,(ok maybe not China or maybe Iran).Then you complain about people faulting Communism because of the actions of some!So if voting does not change anything,then what do you propose violent otherthrow of the government! to be governd by a Leftist Elite,where the workers are happy, and show solidarity, while supporting fascists dictators overseas as they opress their own minorities such as Slobodan and Hussain.OK my ranting is over.

Words simply fail me. My God, can anybody seriously argue this shite? Putting aside the general ahistorical insanity of the arguement, one rather loses all sense of credibility when one argues that (a) the US "sided" with any muslims in the Balkans (the house has burned down but the fire brigade is here Kosovo intervention hardly counts after Gorazde, etc.), (b) a meaningful proportion of muslims in the balkan conflicts were islamists, let alone radical ones and (c) even if one were to disregard the above, that a Serbian Nationalist death cult had anything to do with socialism and/or communism and thus the non-support of the US for the non-existant islamist bosniak and Kosovar hordes was part of a MacCarthyite plot.

As for Belarus, to paraphrase Jello Biafra..."what...you need...my friend...is a lifelong columnist job in Minsk, where you'll write what you're told, where the solidarity has so much soul...."

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About Me

I am a journalist, writer & broadcaster, based in the U.K. I am a regular pundit on foreign/current affairs on RT , Voice of Russia and the BBC.
I am the author of 'Stranger than Fiction', a new biography of Edgar Wallace, which is available here http://goo.gl/o2cZze
I am a regular contributor to newspapers and magazines in UK & overseas including The Guardian, The Week, Morning Star, Daily & Sunday Express, The Mail on Sunday & The Spectator.
My work has also appeared in The Fleet Street Letter, The Huffington Post, Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Australian and in publications as diverse as The American Conservative, Pravda, Woman's Weekly & the Racing Post.
I am strongly opposed to the neo-conservative war agenda -and believe in the urgent necessity of a left-right anti-war coalition.
On domestic issues I support re-nationalisation of the railways and public utilities (I am co-founder of The Campaign for Public Ownership), a new top rate of tax on the very wealthy, free care for the elderly, a free National Health Service including the restoration of NHS dentistry, and protection of the Green Belt and the countryside.
FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER @NEILCLARK66